“Live Deliberately!”
Luke 9:51
“ And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,”
Consider these three things as you seek the Lord and live deliberately.
#1. Maintain your focus:
Jesus lived deliberately with intentional purpose. He overcame His daily difficulties by staying focused on His calling. He was guided by an overpowering calling that shaped His direction daily. A great example of Jesus never losing focus on His calling is depicted in Luke 9:51. Now you’ve heard me say many times in church that Luke 9:51 marks a turning point in Luke. Jesus begins a very slow Journey to Jerusalem, ministering and teaching like crazy along the way. He knows His mission and His purpose. He understands the timing of which He will die in Jerusalem for our sins. Right now, we are in difficult times but we can’t let the chaos keep us from living deliberately. Living deliberately and with purpose is a great antidote in helping prevent depression and dealing with anxiety.
#2. Don’t let the stress steal your joy:
Right now, many of you are experiencing very difficult times. The anxiety of catching or spreading a dangerous virus is real. The job stress of evolving protocols, unpredictable wages can create a lot of stress. Try to find the humor in the stress. Sometimes a little laughter can do a lot of good. Laughter is a God given emotion that produces those good endorphins. Sometimes we just have to stop and find the humor in our humanity. The bible says in Proverbs 17:22 “ A merry heart does good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries the bones” Add the home stress of suddenly finding yourself homeschooling, (lol, I don’t think I could pass the 6th grade these days) and all the other new challenges can be trying. Finding some personal humor may not solve our problems but it can certainly help us cope in the process. The bible says “a merry heart does good like a medicine”, and it doesn’t cost a penny.
#3. Find time to reflect and laugh:
Who would have dreamed that in 2020 we would buy gas for a 1.40 gallon, get excited over toilet paper and need to wear a mask to the grocery store? Just three months ago nobody ever heard the terms “social distancing” or “shelter in place”. Had somebody told us three months ago our taxes wouldn’t be due on April 15th, and that the governments going to mail everybody a check, we would never believe it. Had somebody told us three months ago that our President was going to cut into the regularly scheduled program with “Breaking News” that we “can’t shake hands or touch our face” we would have thought they were nuts. Had somebody told us in January that by April there would hardly be anything on TV concerning the 2020 election we would have thought they were crazy. Had you made a wild guess that a pandemic was coming back in December, Christmas could have been much different, the prized present under your tree would have been toilet paper and the stockings filled with hand sanitizer. The upset family members would not say “thank-you” till March but it would be sincere. I never would have believed that in my lifetime I would be telling our church members not to come to church. Who does that? Had somebody told us three months ago we would be preaching to a green ladder and Julie (videographer) operating an I-Pad on the paint tray and sending live on Facebook in an almost completely empty church; we would’ve never had believed it.
In other words, we could never have predicted this. But God isn’t caught off guard. We can be creative in continuing to serve the Lord. Ask the Lord for wisdom in how you can “live deliberately with purpose” during this time. Don’t lose your sense of humor and find the good in things and watch what God will do. I end with this, remember this verse:
Nehemiah 8:10
“Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Bro. Bruce Rudd